Join us today!
Printable version
Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30283
Posted on 13 November 2019 at 12:13 GMT
Fighting government cuts: Picket line at City & Islington sixth form, London, 12.2.20, photo JB (Click to enlarge)
Sixth form college staff strike to save the colleges
Ian Pattison, East London Socialist Party
The National Education Union (NEU) warns that sixth-form colleges could disappear. Funding is £700 million short.
Teachers at 34 colleges were on strike on 12 February.
The impact of cuts cannot be underestimated. Teaching foreign languages has been hardest hit, while cuts to science, maths, technology and engineering are almost as severe.
Student support services - including vital mental-health care - and extra-curricular activities are being cut. Class sizes have increased in 81% of colleges.
Today there are half the number of sixth-form colleges there were in 1992, 15% fewer college teachers than 2010, and college workers' pay has dropped lower than schools.
The picket line at Havering Sixth-Form College, 12.2.20, photo by Ian Pattison (Click to enlarge)
On the picket line at Havering Sixth-Form College, NEU members thought they have been seen as an easy target for government cuts. But they are still determined to strike. Boris Johnson says 'austerity is over', so these workers want that to apply to colleges.
Staff at Havering College are also angry because the college has been hit by a form of academy privatisation. Worse contracts are being imposed on workers, it's the final straw. There could more strikes at this college very soon.
The next national strike is on Thursday 27 February.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
2020